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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30091392">make this cold world beautiful</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThunderstormsandMemories/pseuds/ThunderstormsandMemories'>ThunderstormsandMemories</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>here winter wends again [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Persona 5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/F, Persona 5 Girls Week</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 21:40:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,366</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30091392</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThunderstormsandMemories/pseuds/ThunderstormsandMemories</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>a quiet winter afternoon, two cups of tea, and a book</p><p>OR,<br/>Makoto looked up, halfway through a scene where the clever heroine rescued her best friend from the spell she was trapped under, when the door creaked open and Haru walked in, the tip of her nose pink from the cold. The wards at the threshold kept out most of the chill—Makoto had placed them herself, and checked them every month as was recommended in every basic text on spellwork—but she still felt the little puff of cold air that clung to Haru like a second coat.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Niijima Makoto/Okumura Haru</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>here winter wends again [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2214126</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>make this cold world beautiful</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for P5R Girls Week Day 1 (prompt: fantasy AU)</p><p>Partially inspired by Zan giving me a bunch of fluff prompts for P5 f/f ships last summer, so after many months here's MakoHaru + "reading a book together"</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The kitchen was the best place for reading on a winter afternoon. Makoto’s bedroom window faced north, and was in the drafty attic besides, but the kitchen had a round, cast-iron wood stove and south-facing windows that let in every bit of the weak December sunlight, charmed to hold the heat just a little longer than was natural. She’d moved her favorite chair, the sturdy armchair that normally lived in the sitting room and could almost comfortably fit two people, into the corner that got the most light and curled up in it, a book in her lap. Haru was meant to be home soon. Makoto had expected her by now, truth be told, but she wasn’t entirely sure what time it was herself so she might’ve been mistaken, and she kept meaning to stand up and stretch and make herself some tea to keep her company while she read, but then she would turn the page and get engrossed in the story and forget again. This was her first day free from responsibilities (mostly, she’d done some reconnaissance in the morning but had long since warmed up again) in several weeks, and she meant to enjoy it to the fullest. After all, thieves didn’t get days off, especially while preparing for scores like the one the Phantom Thieves were currently plotting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looked up, halfway through a scene where the clever heroine rescued her best friend from the spell she was trapped under, when the door creaked open and Haru walked in, the tip of her nose pink from the cold. The wards at the threshold kept out most of the chill—Makoto had placed them herself, and checked them every month as was recommended in every basic text on spellwork—but she still felt the little puff of cold air that clung to Haru like a second coat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Haru shook loose snow from her hood and hung up her coat, slipped off her boots, and said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be home so late but my meeting went longer than I expected. I know you wanted to spend some time together today.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s no problem,” Makoto said, closing her book and looking more closely at her girlfriend. The enchantment on the book meant that the ribbon would always lay between the most recent pages she’d read, so she would never have to worry about losing her place. She hadn’t done that herself, Haru had done it for her as a gift. She had always been better at those delicate, intuitive bits of magic than Makoto, who preferred magic that involved either calculation or physical action. “I lost track of time as well, and I know how the tea witches can be when they get to talking. Was your meeting productive, at least?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Haru nodded. “I think this partnership is really going to pay off. They agreed to get us invitations to the ball!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re amazing,” said Makoto, and Haru gave a soft, dimpled smile. “In exchange for a share of the profits, I imagine?” If Haru had revealed her identity, and the fact that she was still alive, to the noble set she’d fled from, she would have been invited in her own name. But she had given up her old life for a reason, and one invitation wouldn’t have been enough, not for what they were planning.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, actually,” said Haru. “They just want us to steal something for them as well.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is it?” said Makoto, warily. She had a great deal of professional respect for the tea witches, a group of magicians—mostly women, competent beautiful women—who specialized in brewing teas with various special properties, and she admired them both professionally and personally, but she didn’t trust them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s, well, don’t laugh,” said Haru, “but it’s a cursed teapot. They don’t have any prior attachment to it, or any interest in the curse itself. They just think it fits with their aesthetic too well for it to belong to anyone else.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Makoto, with great difficulty, did not laugh. The tea witches did care rather a lot about their aesthetic, it was true. And a teapot likely wouldn’t be too difficult to smuggle out along with the rest of their ill-gotten gains, as long as it wasn’t locked in a chest in a magically sealed room in the opposite wing of the house from the treasure they were primarily seeking. “I see.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They also gave me a sample of one of their new blends,” Haru said, taking a small envelope of tea leaves from her pocket.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“As a gift?” Makoto said, immediately reverting back to suspicion. Nothing in this town was ever free, especially not from people who were, technically, their competition, though they specialized in different types of crime. The tea witches traded in information and potions, while the Phantom Thieves were, well, thieves in a more traditional sense, though they also had an eye for secrets. "Are you sure it's wise to accept strange drinks from witches with hidden agendas?"<br/>
</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Darling, we're witches with hidden agendas most of the time," said Haru fondly. "But no, it wasn't free. They want me to report back to them on how it tastes when brewed anywhere other than one of their carefully calibrated kettles. They know I enjoy that sort of thing, and they want to make sure their results can be replicated before they try to sell it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And what results are they looking for?” Makoto said, as Haru set to work filling the kettle and making sure that the flames weren’t so hot that they would boil the water and scald the leaves, rendering the tea undrinkable in Haru’s eyes and a little bitter but nothing an extra spoonful of honey couldn’t fix in Makoto’s. Ann’s affinity for fire would’ve come in handy, but she was travelling outside the city to pick up disguises for their upcoming heist, and Haru was practiced enough at making tea the mundane way that she could more than manage on her own.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A strong, clear flavor, mostly,” Haru said, “with the floral notes coming through. It’s also meant to give the drinker a sense of comfort.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not sure you’ll get much useful feedback from me, in that case,” said Makoto. “That’s always how I feel when you’re around.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mako-chan, you’re always so sweet,” said Haru, blushing as she tended the fire while Makoto fetched their teacups. That was blatantly untrue, in Makoto’s opinion, but it </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> very sweet of Haru to say it, and she kissed her girlfriend on the cheek when their paths crossed as they wove around each other in the tight space of the kitchen. It was cozy, and though it was very different from where either of them were raised, it was home, but Makoto did sometimes wish there was just a little more space to move around, and she supposed the chair she’d dragged in didn’t help, but she found it familiar, comforting, rather than inconvenient the way she might have once.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Haru poured the tea for both of them, and it was, as promised, strong and clear and floral, and if Makoto didn’t feel noticeably more comfortable she certainly didn’t feel any less so, with a hot drink in her hand and Haru beside her, cheerfully reporting the finer details of the deal she’d struck that day.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What did you want to do with the rest of the day?” said Makoto, when their tea was done and Makoto had cleared the dishes away and the taste of it still lingered on her lips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m pretty tired,” said Haru. “Would you mind reading to me? Whatever book you had when I came in is fine, I just like to hear your voice.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think you’ll like this one,” said Makoto, and she began to explain the plot as Haru settled onto her lap, her head resting on Makoto’s shoulder. The chair was big enough for the two of them when they sat like this, folded around each other in a familiar puzzle of elbows and shoulders and knees, and Haru nuzzled closer to Makoto’s neck as Makoto looped her arm around Haru and began to read.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Title from Patricia by Florence + the Machine</p><p>The tea witches are inspired by a faction from the Marielda season of Friends at the Table called the Tea Leaf Set because they seem like the sort of people fantasy AU!Haru would be friends with</p><p>This is technically set in the same universe as another longfic that I'm working on but have not posted yet because I think the concept of fantasy magical thieves is very fun (series title is from Tolkein's translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, I'm sure that's nothing to worry about)</p><p>I can be found on <a href="https://twitter.com/selkie_au_lover">twitter</a>! Come say hi and talk to me about these two very good girls and how much they love each other!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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